Conventional detergents used in the laundering industries and various other cleaning applications, particularly those intended for institutional use, generally contain alkyl phenol ethoxylates (APEs). APEs are used in detergents as a cleanser and a degreaser for their effectiveness at removing soils containing grease from a variety of surfaces. Commonly used APEs include nonyl phenol ethoxylates (NPE) surfactants.
However, while effective, APEs are disfavored due to environmental concerns. For example, NPEs are formed through the combination of ethylene oxide with nonylphenol (NP). Both NP and NPEs exhibit estrogen-like properties and may contaminate water, vegetation and marine life. NPE is also not readily biodegradable and remains in the environment or food chain for indefinite time periods. There is therefore a need in the art for an environmentally friendly and biodegradable alternative that can replace APEs in hard surface cleaners and laundry detergents.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the claimed invention to develop NPE-free laundry detergent emulsifiers and other hard surface cleaning detergent emulsifiers.
A further object of the invention is to provide NPE-free laundry detergents and other hard surface cleaning detergents that provide effective soil removal, including oily soils, such that organic grease, fat and oils are emulsified.
A further object of the invention is to provide the NPE-free compositions without using harsh solvents in place of the NPEs or other APEs, which again may cause environmental concerns such as high content of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), biodegradability, aqua toxicity, etc.